My best dining weekend ever - from the highs to the lows.

Friday night I went to Kyma with one of my favorite dining partners. He'd been wanting me to broaden his horizons in Atlanta food and wanted me to help. So, I thought I'd take him to one of my favorite places - Kyma. I love Kyma. They call me Ms. Restaurant Hound. Treat me like a lady (fools!) and I eat it up!

So we arrived at the restaurant and were seated. I was disappointed to see that we were seated on the banquette with another couple less than 6 inches from us. Thank god our table was for four instead of two so we had some space. I love wines from the island of Santorini. The waiter recommended a wine for us based on my specifications - a Thelatissis - it was fantastic. Close to the best bottle of wine I've ever had in a restaurant. The shame about Greek wines is that they export so few that you can rarely find them in the stores. Boo!

So we got a series of 5 appetizers. It started with spreads (fantastic!) - my favorite was the hummus, my friends was the roasted red pepper (which is funny because he hates peppers). Then they brought us scallops - they were fantastic! I don't love scallops but I could have died in a tub of them.

The saganaki was average. However, the cheese pie and the lamb pie were fantastic. The lamb pie was a touch rich but perfect for what it was. We split a lava cake with cinnamon ice cream for dessert and it was perfect. My friend thought it was the best part of the evening (though he later revised and decided it was the scallops).

On a high from Kyma and all the pamering - we went to the Ritz Carlton for drinks. You all know how much that amuses me.

The next night we went to Manuel's for dinner. I love Manuel's - I love it's history both with Atlanta and with me. Manuel's is an institution in Atlanta politics. Everyone who is anyone has watched election returns there. Manuel's is also an institution for the life of me. I hosted my best friends wedding shower there. That was where she told me she was pregnant with her first baby. It was where I went to lunch with the boss from one of my favorite jobs when I told him I got a better opportunity. It was also where we went when I realized that opportunity wasn't so great.

So, I had the chili cheese dog. It was fantastic. But what can you really say about a chili cheese dog? The hot dog was all beef - it was fantastic. The chili was better than good. The french fries were fantastic!

Anyway - my culinary weekend from high to low. But what really mattered was the company.